Muslim World (Important Articles)

Islams defining moment with democracy

March 29, 2012
By the Monitors Editorial Board
Muslims living in democracies of the West and Asia already know their practice of Islam
can best flourish where religious freedom is protected and womens rights are honored.
Now two Muslim countries liberated from dictators in last years Arab Spring are trying to
define their own line between mosque and state.
In Egypt and Tunisia, the Islamist parties that won postrevolution elections are leading
efforts to write new constitutions. Their choices could reshape the Middle East if they
decide that Islam must be compatible with democracy rather than the other way around.
On Monday, the leading Islamist party in Tunisia, Al Nahda, announced that sharia (Islamic
law) should not be the source for all laws. It said the constitution should simply
acknowledge that Islam is the state religion, as the old constitution did.
The party prefers to unite all Tunisians and set an example for other Arab states in
transition. A woman, in fact, is heading up the panel to define rights and liberties.
Egypt, however, is home to the Muslim Brotherhood, once the modern source of radical
Islamic ideas that inspired groups like Al Qaeda. While the Brotherhood has become
pragmatic during six decades of military rule, it decided last week to use its majority in
the new parliament to dominate the constitution-writing process. And it is also pushing for
a candidate in the coming presidential election who has an Islamic background.
Still, much can happen in Egypts ongoing political flux between the Muslim Brotherhood,
the military, and pro-democracy youth who led last years protests against Hosni Mubarak.
Most Egyptians, who are largely rural, care more about clean government and a growing
economy than democracy. Any party or person who becomes president later this year will
have a difficult time delivering on those hopes.
The possibility of failing to fix the economy restrains the Brotherhood from being out front
in leading Egypt for now. And recent dissent within the group reveals a healthy clash of
ideas over Islams role in defining a new identity for Egypt, where 10 percent of the
population is Coptic Christian.
Both Tunisia and Egypt have two models in the region that illustrate Islams long and
difficult encounter with Western ideas of freedom and plurality.
Since 1979, Irans ruling Muslim clerics have botched the countrys minimalist democracy,
while in Turkey the ruling Islamic party has ruled since 2002 with mostly liberal policies.
In fact, Turkey, once the seat of the Islamic Ottoman caliphate, has praised the virtues of
democratic secular rule to Egypts Muslim Brotherhood. It has also scolded Iraqs Shiiteled government for not easing tensions with minority Sunnis. And it has told Iran, Iraq,
and Lebanon to raise their voices against the violence in Syria or else remove the word
Islam from their names.

It took centuries and many wars for Christians in Europe to come to terms with
democracy. Muslims in the Middle East are on a faster track to reconcile their religion with
representative government and rule of law. And they have plenty of models to help them
see that democracy gives Islam its best protection from sectarian strife.
Source: Christian Science Monitor

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Arab Spring: now begins the education of

Islamist politicians
May 2, 2012
By Graham E. Fuller
Islamist politics in the Middle East cracked wide open with the Arab awakening: Islamists
have emerged on top in Tunisia, Libya, Iraq, and Egypt. Western publics, lulled by the
sight of iPhones and other social media at work, assumed that the demonstrations,
rebellions, and regime changes were all driven by Muslim wannabe Westerners and that
Islamist politics were relics of the past.But when dictators started to fall, it shouldnt have
been any surprise that Islamists quickly came out on top. This wasnt a conspiracy.
Islamists have paid their dues many times over for decades as the only group with a clear
regional identity, a vision, a courage, and a willingness to suffer the harsh responses of
dictators.
OPINION: Political Islam is here to stay US must accept and adjust
They spoke out, went to prison, and sometimes died. Brave doesnt always mean correct,
but it means they garnered the respect of the public. Western-style liberals couldnt really
fill up the main square on a good day, although the participation of a new generation of
youth with idealism and drive is evidence of an exciting new generation of activists.
Islamists make Westerners nervous, sometimes with good reason. We have seen what the
most fanatic and worst of them can do 9/11, primitive Taliban forces, and backwards
views toward women. But Islamists have also been driven by a Muslim nationalist zeal,
fueled by hostility to past Western political domination and wars brought to their own
lands.
Islamists were in a way lucky for a while. Excluded from the system, they could only
deliver Islamist critiques but never had to shoulder the burden of office, the responsibility
to make things work.

That has all changed. Islamists are being elected into office and will be assuming the
daunting policy problems of their neglected societies. The voting public is excited at the
change and will give them a grace period to start improving things. But that period will be
limited. Islamists cant go on winning elections on the basis of pious religious slogans or
even anti-Westernism (assuming the West is no longer there with boots on the ground).
Islamists, too, will eventually be chucked out of office if they cant deliver the goods. And
they know it. They will have to make hard policy decisions on complex issues or they too
will soon lose their hard-acquired luster.
In the exhilarating new field of more open Middle Eastern politics, the once oppressed and
cornered Islamist spectrum is now opening out, expanding into new space: liberal or
conservative, pragmatic or rigid, cautious or bold, skilled or unskilled, politically savvy or
not.
We see this spectrum in Tunisia and Egypt today: ultra-conservative Salafis, more
moderate Muslim Brothers, a smaller segment of liberal Islamists all in competition.
Whats more, the field is not static. Islamists, now free to play, are evolving rapidly,
gaining experience in the face of the hard political and policy decisions ahead of them.
The process has brought some heartening developments. Ultra-orthodox Salafis in Egypt
have now surprisingly backed for president the most liberal Islamist candidate in the pack.
But should we be surprised? Salafis, too, want to win elections, to back the candidate
most likely to win.
Islamists, united by shared years in the dungeons, now differ with each other in the
atmosphere of greater political freedom. They are not rejecting, but playing in, the
political game. If a pious, well-meaning but isolated bearded sheikh cant play in the
political arena and manage the country, Islamists dont want to go down with the
ideological ship.
In Turkey 10 years ago, a secularized public voted for a party with Islamist roots, the
ruling Justice and Development Party, not because it was pious but because it proved it
could run municipalities, and it went on to major successes at the national level. It wasnt
about Islam, it was about the economy, services, smart politics. And it has prospered now
for over a decade to become a model of what an Islamist party can become.
There are smart and stupid Islamists, competent and incompetent, popular and unpopular.
Some will come to office and quickly flail and fail; others will demonstrate vision and
management skills. Public demand and expectations will soon sort them out.
Above all, the West must allow these processes to unfold unhindered inside each country.
Past Western support to Middle East dictators to keep the lid on have cost the West
dearly, stirred up deep hostility against it, and have severely retarded the political learning
curve of Middle East societies. Will some of them prove failures? For sure.
As the spectrum of Islamist politics widens, there will be periods of chaos, learning, and
uncertainty. Look at the excesses of numerous Western countries during the 20th century
Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Russia, Greece, or Japan and the massive institutional
corruption that characterizes so much of Western politics today.

Muslim political behavior in the end is just like that of other groups of people: similar
hopes and aspirations, similar angers against oppression, similar hatred of invaders,
similar resistance to hegemonic powers. There are no mysteries here. The daily
tumultuous unfolding of events shows that Muslim politics are slowly crawling back on the
road from the frozen tundra of the autocrats.
Graham E. Fuller is the former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the
CIA; his most recent book is A World Without Islam.
Source: Christian Science Monitor